Meaning and Universal Grammar
Theory and empirical findings
Volume 2
Editors
This book develops a bold new approach to universal grammar, based on research findings of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) program. The key idea is that universal grammar is constituted by the inherent grammatical properties of some 60 empirically established semantic primes, which appear to have concrete exponents in all languages. For six typologically divergent languages (Mangaaba-Mbula, Mandarin Chinese, Lao, Malay, Spanish and Polish), contributors identify exponents of the primes and work through a substantial set of hypotheses about their combinatorics, valency properties, complementation options, etc. Each study can also be read as a semantically-based typological profile. Four theoretical chapters by the editors describe the NSM approach and its application to grammatical typology. As a study of empirical universals in grammar, this book is unique for its rigorous semantic orientation, its methodological consistency, and its wealth of cross-linguistic detail.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 61] 2002. xvi, 337 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of Contributors | p. xi
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List of Maps and Tables | p. xiii
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Typographical Conventions and Symbols | p. xiii
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Preface to Volume IICliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka | p. xv
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Part 1. Individual Language Studies
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1. The Syntax of Semantic Primes in Mangaaba-MbulaRobert Bugenhagen | pp. 1–64
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2. Semantic primes and Universal Grammar in PolishAnna Wierzbicka | pp. 65–144
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3. Combinatoric Properties of Natural Semantic Metalanguage Expressions in LaoN.J. Enfield | pp. 145–256
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Part 2. General
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4. Semantic Primes and Linguistic TypologyAnna Wierzbicka | pp. 257–300
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5. The On-going Development of the NSM Research ProgramCliff Goddard | pp. 301–321
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Index of Languages and Language Families | pp. 323–324
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General Index | pp. 325–334
“This is a very important work and represents a major advance in the understanding of the dependence of syntactic description on an explicit semantic analysis. This work is especially valuable because the role of semantics, particularly the lexical semantics of verbs, has become increasingly central in current formal theories of syntax, and few semantic theories are as well worked out as that presented here. Syntactic theorists would be well advised to study this book carefully before they glibly invoke vague ( and potentially circular) semantic explanations for syntactic problems.”
William A. Foley, University of Sydney
“The entire book is written in a maximally clear and simple language. It invites the reader, in a friendly manner, into the creative laboratory, where there is being accomplished a wondrous process of reaching the complex through the simple. At the same time, it is a simplicity deeply thought through; behind it lies a professionalism of the highest order and many years of systematic thinking about the nature of human language.”
Alexandr Kibrik, Moscow State University
“Irrespective of theoretical orientation, one can only be impressed by the scope of the empirical investigation as well as the depth and insight of the resulting semantic descriptions. The theoretical tenets of Anna Wierzbicka's Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach are provocative and highly controversial. They focus attention on fundamental issues and force us to rethink the nature of linguistic meaning and psychologically plausible semantic descriptions. Linguists of all persuasions can profit from examining the analyses presented in this work, the theoretical proposals made, and their possible ramifications.”
Ronald W. Langacker
University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
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2023. Tense-aspect constructions in Jish Arabic: Morphological, syntactic, and semantic features. Russian Journal of Linguistics 27:2 ► pp. 363 ff.
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2021. Lingwistyczna teoria mowy. Preliminaria,
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Asano-Cavanagh, Yuko
2020. Lost in translation: A semantic analysis of no da in Japanese. In Meaning, Life and Culture: In conversation with Anna Wierzbicka, ► pp. 229 ff.
Bułat Silva, Zuzanna
2020. TIME in Portuguese saudade and other words of longing. In Meaning, Life and Culture: In conversation with Anna Wierzbicka, ► pp. 211 ff.
Erben Johansson, Niklas, Andrey Anikin, Gerd Carling & Arthur Holmer
2020. The typology of sound symbolism: Defining macro-concepts via their semantic and phonetic features. Linguistic Typology 24:2 ► pp. 253 ff.
Gladkova, Anna
2020. The semantics of verbs of visual aesthetic appreciation in Russian. In Meaning, Life and Culture: In conversation with Anna Wierzbicka, ► pp. 155 ff.
Gladkova, Anna
2022. Emotions and attitudes in present day Russian through the prism of new words: Cultural semantics of zhest’ and related concepts. Russian Journal of Linguistics 26:4 ► pp. 970 ff.
Haspelmath, Martin
2020. The structural uniqueness of languages and the value of comparison for language description. Asian Languages and Linguistics 1:2 ► pp. 346 ff.
Wierzbicka, Anna & Anna Gladkova
2020. “There is no Sex in the Soviet Union”: From Sex to Seks. In Studies in Ethnopragmatics, Cultural Semantics, and Intercultural Communication, ► pp. 53 ff.
Goddard, Cliff & Anna Wierzbicka
Goddard, Cliff, Anna Wierzbicka & Horacio Fabréga
2014. Evolutionary semantics: using NSM to model stages in human cognitive evolution. Language Sciences 42 ► pp. 60 ff.
Ye, Zhengdao
2014. The meaning of “happiness” (xìngfú) and “emotional pain” (tòngkŭ) in Chinese. International Journal of Language and Culture 1:2 ► pp. 194 ff.
Guidère, Mathieu
2011. La médiation humanitaire multilingue. Revue française de linguistique appliquée Vol. XVI:1 ► pp. 51 ff.
Wierzbicka, Anna
2001. Australian Culture and Australian English: A Response to William Ramson. Australian Journal of Linguistics 21:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Wierzbicka, Anna
2003. ?Reasonable man? and ?reasonable doubt?: the English language, Anglo culture and Anglo-American law. Forensic Linguistics 10:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
WIERZBICKA, ANNA
2005. Empirical Universals of Language as a Basis for the Study of Other Human Universals and as a Tool for Exploring Cross-Cultural Differences. Ethos 33:2 ► pp. 256 ff.
Goddard, Cliff
1997. Semantic primes and grammatical categories∗. Australian Journal of Linguistics 17:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Goddard, Cliff
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CF: Linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General